A time capsule of the greatest financial mania in the history of mankind, told in real-time by regular folks and patriots. May future generations better understand the madness of crowds, and how power and money corrupt.

February 25, 2008

78 comments:

Sure. There are plenty. Shortly after becoming an accredited investor, I bought into a private placement offering with a company I used to work for (because I know firsthand, having been in management there, that they're solid). But, despite my knowledge of the company, it's still a risky investment. Lots of things can change.

Plenty of already-public stocks are riskier than housing.

The difference, though, is that these risky investments have a HUGE upside if they pan out. Housing on the other hand doesn't have much of an upside.

If your house appreciates, you can't really take advantage and use it to buy a bigger house, because if your house went up, so did all the others in your city.

No benefit there.

If your house appreciates, you can take out home equity loans, but as Suze Orman frequently mentions, they're a scam and you'd be better off taking out credit card debt.

No benefit there.

The only thing that really happens when your house appreciates is your property taxes go up.

No benefit there.

So, in the end, there is no real upside to housing as an investment. When people realize that you're paying for A PLACE TO LIVE and NOT AN "INVESTMENT," maybe things will return to normal.

Well I've got my money tied up in a new venture, it's the "Mad Mullah" brand bacon factory in downtown Tehran.The way I see it, and I've done my research here, 63 million people in Iran, not one single bacon factory anywhere to be seen. I'm floating my company "Commodities and securities holdings" on the London stock exchange next Friday, so if anyone wants to get in on the ground floor of this new venture, send a cheque for a minimum of £2000 with the acronym CASH to PO.box 32 London W1 3XJ.

Just saw Bill Gross (of PIMCO) in another interview [bnn.ca] still talking about decoupling, government intervention in housing marker (several hundred billion dollars) and monolines being 'saved'etc. Do they ever think about knock on (secondary and tertiary) effects.

Is this guy nuts or willingly delusional?

The amount of real money to bail all of these bastards does not exist on the face of earth. Even all of the governments on the fact of this earth cannot stop this ponzio scheme from unravelling.

Oh, now is a great time to buy. I have friends and relatives who sat out from the housing bubble and now this spring they believe that they will get some good bargains. I have a cousin who bought a house in Bensenville, IL for 550K (a McMansion that is 3000 square feet, four bedrooms, a nice basement, etc...) and the listing price was originally 775K and the final asking price was 639K and they negotiated a deal down to 550K. They think they are getting a good deal, I beg to differ. Just wait around until an average home is selling for what the median wages can afford. Those times are not here yet.

Yes there is. Believing in America is the WORST thing anyone anywhere can do. The country is bankrupt financially and more importantly morally.

There is NO WAY OUT.

America is Doomed and Dying.

F*ck You, Mozilo. You should be executed at once.

February 25, 2008 2:37 PM

FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!!!!! How dare you say that about America? America is the greatest country in the world and the greatest nation to grace this planet. We have the most freedom and we have the highest standard of living in the world. Oh I know someone will mention Sweden, Denmark, etc.... But they get taxed very high. We don't. America, love it or leave it. I usually don't get this emotional, but when someone criticizes this country I will defend her. I would even die for my country, that is how strong I feel.

The answer is buying U.S. government debt (also Fannie and Freddie feces). And foreign governments are still slurping it up like a slush puppy. How are we going to get out of our 55 trillion foot hole that's getting deeper every day?

The only way oil, gold, and silver crash, is if the government stops printing money at once and raises rates to 20%. Oil will be $150 within 2 years and gold will peak at $5000-$6000 an ounce within 10 years.

FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!!!!! How dare you say that about America? America is the greatest country in the world and the greatest nation to grace this planet. We have the most freedom and we have the highest standard of living in the world. Oh I know someone will mention Sweden, Denmark, etc.... But they get taxed very high. We don't. America, love it or leave it. I usually don't get this emotional, but when someone criticizes this country I will defend her. I would even die for my country, that is how strong I feel...

Are you the shining beacon of freedom on the hill guy? Here is your highest standard of living:

"FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!!!!! How dare you say that about America? America is the greatest country in the world and the greatest nation to grace this planet. We have the most freedom and we have the highest standard of living in the world... "

Somebody needs to step away from the Kool-Aid punchbowl.

"America, love it or leave it. I usually don't get this emotional, but when someone criticizes this country I will defend her. I would even die for my country, that is how strong I feel."

I'm reminded of the saying which goes, "One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist". So, Anonymous, which are you?

Anon (who cares when) said: "How dare you say that about America? America is the greatest country in the world and the greatest nation to grace this planet. We have the most freedom and we have the highest standard of living in the world. Oh I know someone will mention Sweden, Denmark, etc.... But they get taxed very high. We don't. America, love it or leave it. I usually don't get this emotional, but when someone criticizes this country I will defend her. I would even die for my country, that is how strong I feel."

That's odd. I don't see you over in Iraq fighting to keep the middle east American. Hypocrite.

I agree with several other posters here..... houses are the least risky investment (or non-investment) right now. Isn't there a high degree of certainty which way home prices will move in the next few years? On the other hand, I have no idea where gold and oil will be in a couple of years.

I usually don't get this emotional, but when someone criticizes this country I will defend her. I would even die for my country, that is how strong I feel.

You know... your country doesn't exist anymore. If you're forefathers we're alive today, they'd start another revolution to kick out everyone who who is in power now.

America was never about protecting land - it was about defending an ideology of freedom for the common man.

What's ironic is that you would be the first to fight and kill the people who actually created your country. You've become the British redcoat fighting for your slavery. And no one better say a word against the empire!

Risky bets? Short of casinos or horse races, try the broadcast networks and the digital-only transition. I've been carrying out experiments with homebrew UHF antennas and I live only 10 miles from the transmitters.

I live on the "wrong" side of an apartment building (the leeward-of-the-transmitters side) and catching the signals can be a pain in the arse. My antenna rig in my living room is an array with 4 bow-tie antennas in phase feeding two signal booster amplifiers in series - a total of 26dB gain over an unamplified single bowtie. Precipitation does destabilize the signal.

Unless the on-air broadcasters crank up the transmitters 100-fold (20dB) there are going to be a LOT of unserved homes! Estimates vary, but 13 million homes will go dark unless the residents get cable or satellite. Personally, I think that's low-balling it. That means a lot of advertising money lost!

You want a risky investment? Invest in on-air broadcasters. The digital conversion will make Y2K look trivial. Especially since the consumer, not techies must do the remediation - and most people don't know the black art of antenna design.

Any sort of leveraged investment is terribly risky right now, and housing involves the most leverage the average person will ever assume. So in that respect, yeah, housing.

Really? Gold, silver and oil will be free?

You're a real bright one.

If someone leveraged themselves to obtain a large amount (and what else do speculators ever do?) then, yes, it would only take a moderate decline in value to make his own gold, silver and oil worthless to him.

According to the agent trying to get me to buy a house - in PHX no less - his last email states that even though it may seem to good to be true, RE is a great investment right now! AND he goes on to say that any home purchased now in PHX is guaranteed to double in value over the next 10 years.

Housing is not only the riskiest investment but also the DUMBEST. One of the reasons is that you meet nothing but crooks on every single step of home purchasing: realtors, mortgage officers, bankers, appraisers, inspectors, contractors, etc. And the slimest of them all, Realtwhores. Who in the right mind wants to go through all these crooks and still pay premium for a devaluating asset that nobody knows the right value in the next 10 years? If you want to be a debt slave and a realthwore's bitch, go ahead and buy a home.

America Sucks big time! I cannot wait for it to collapse. Although I must admit I like the idea of the Government giving us all $600.

But really what will $600 buy? Nothing not a dam thing! Still I want to encourage the idea. I would also like to get to the point they did in Rome at the end you know 200+ holidays and feasts. All I have to say is the Government had better start pacifying me or it is going to get ugly fast.

Guess what? This is actually a true statement for gold. The planetary reserves are known to be dwindling and mineable gold will be depleted at some point. How far in the future is not known, but it is a concern. Thereafter the total amount of worldwide gold will be fixed or declining due to industrial uses.

You might want to have some idea of what the hell you are talking about before opening your big mouth.

Quote:#####FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!!!!! How dare you say that about America? America is the greatest country in the world and the greatest nation to grace this planet. We have the most freedom and we have the highest standard of living in the world. Oh I know someone will mention Sweden, Denmark, etc.... But they get taxed very high. We don't. America, love it or leave it. I usually don't get this emotional, but when someone criticizes this country I will defend her. I would even die for my country, that is how strong I feel...#####

This nation and most of its citizens, residents, dwellers have no ethic, no moral, no responsibility. What it has in plenty is greed, self-centerness, ignorance, pompousness.

The housing bubble is a shiny mirror in which the Americano can look at itself and ponder upon what may the future brings upon this land of the Snapper Turtle.

A nation that mostly comprises of pigs feeding, tearing, roosting, chomping at the trough.A nation with most of its dwellers obese, fat, diabetic, and plain ugly like a chimpanzee.A nation where a Walmart cashier can buy a house for $500K.A nation in which its citizen's brain IQ is lower than a snapper turtle.A nation which rules by turkey and skunk.

The Americano nation is as toasted as a roasted armadillo skewered from mouth to ass sizzling, popping, oozing with melted golden fat over a bed of white hot charcoal.

Not making any more gold, just like they're not making any more land. Buy gold now before you are priced out. Hmmm where have I heard that before? Oh yea buy real estate now before you get priced out. Oh but it's different this time I forgot.

It's a shame that so many people on this message board are anti-American. I am a patriotic American fundamentalist Christian. I truly believe that America is a special country and God has special plans for us. I shouldn't have lost my cool and got too emotional. I strongly believe that America is a force for good in this world. If you disagree, then fine, but don't say things like: coward, douche bag, idiot, ass hole, etc... because I am none of those. I am a strong believer that America wants to help others around the world and we are a beacon of freedom, a shiny city on top of a hill. P.S. if you have nothing positive to say, then keep it to yourself.

Ladies & gentlemen, here's your typical American Christian, "conservative with values". When they're not doing gay porn at public bathrooms around the country or involved with corruption, they're cursing more than a crack whore.